The Purple Butterfly
by mabelreid
Summary: One shot part of my 'purple' series with Reid and Emily. Agreeing to watch over Reid after he goes home following the events of "Amplification, Emily sees more then she bargained for at his apartment.


_**Disclaimer: see my profile**_

_**A/n this is part of my series of Reid and purple... It doesn't follow the other one shots in any way but stands on it's own. Thank to the-vampire-act for putting the idea in my head. **_

"This isn't necessary!"

"Reid!"

"Don't look at me like that!"

"Then start thinking before you go charging into a strange house with a virulent contagion loose inside!"

"Emily…"

"I know… You were doing your job!"

She dropped down on his couch. It looked like it belonged in the trash heap. The upholstery was an ugly red, black and gold plaid. She picked at the frayed area of one arm with her fingers.

"What would you have done?"

"I would've waited for Morgan, for one thing. Listen Reid, It's not that you went in the house. It's that you didn't wait for your partner. If Brown had been there instead of on his way to the subway, we wouldn't have had to wait for the Anthrax to do it's job.

"You're overstating things again." He perched on the other end of the couch.

"No… I'm not 'overstating things again.' You have no regard for your own life and it makes me nuts."

"I didn't know you cared." He smiled at her.

"I don't… I just don't want to break in another agent on the team." She shot back.

"Very funny… Are you going to go home?"

"No… I'm staying here."

"Fine… I hope you like the couch. I'm going to take a shower in my own bathroom."

He stalked away. She grinned after him. He'd thank them one day for looking after him. It might take some time, but he'd thank them.

She looked around the rest of the living room. It was exactly what she expected. There were books all over the place. They crowded the bookshelves and were stacked on the floor. She looked closer and began to laugh as the shower started. They were stacked around the room in perfect alphabetical order, by subject. Now that was just like her friend. The furniture was old and tattered but free of dust. He had a brand new flat screen television bolted to the wall across from his ancient reclining chair.

She was checking out the kitchen when a voice began to sing in a bad tenor. She snuck back to his bedroom. The bathroom was one door away from his room. She stopped to listen to the impromptu singing.

Reid was singing 'You've lost that lovin' feelin,' with a lot of gusto.

Emily began to laugh. She put a hand over her mouth to stifle the giggles. Who knew Reid was a shower singer. Morgan had roomed with him, but she'd never heard him tease Reid about singing. Even though he was bad, she couldn't stop listening at the door.

When the singing abruptly ended, she pushed away from the bathroom door with one hand. It popped open and swung inwards an inch. "Shit!" She said a bit loudly. She froze as the water turned off.

_Maybe he had heard her! _

Without warning the shower curtain pulled back and she was looking at a wet, and naked, Reid through the crack in the door. Water beaded off his long, lean body. It had slicked back the hair on his head, exposing the sculpted planes of his face. She tried not to look down, but her eyes lost the battle with staying on his face as he reached for a towel. His chest was boyish and his waist was very narrow. He rubbed the towel over his head and face as he stepped out of the shower.

_Shut the door and get out of here! _

She refused to listen to the voice in her head. She stayed there, her feet feeling like they were set in cement and incapable of motion.

She stared at him, through the narrow crack in the doorway, as if he was the centerfold of some risqué magazine until he turned and reached for something on a shelf above the sink. Unfortunately, for her blood pressure, the view from the back was as good, or better, than the front.

"Holy God…" She breathed and then blinked.

There was something on his back at the base of his spine. It looked like. _No_, that couldn't possibly be right. She blinked and he shifted, tossing the towel around his waist. Her heart was racing so fast it might break free of the confines of her ribs and take off running. She backed quickly away from the door that she couldn't believe he hadn't noticed was open, and hurried out to the couch.

Her face felt hot enough to cook on. She picked up a random book and dropped down on the couch. If he noticed, the door was open or had heard her…

Her face felt normal when he walked out to the living room dressed in blue green and yellow plaid pajama bottoms. His tee shirt was dark blue and his damp hair was beginning to fall in waves around his face. He looked beat.

He carried linens to the couch. "I thought you'd need these. I'm sorry for snapping at you. I'm just very tired."

She risked looking up at him because he would notice if she didn't, "its okay… I'd be exhausted if I were you. You almost died."

_Please don't let me check out his crotch._

It took everything she had not to look down from his face. "It's okay Emily… I hope you know I'm sorry that I scared everyone. I just had to do what I did."

She reached out and took his hand. Something like an electric shock passed through her hand. She yanked her hand back and saw that Reid had felt it too.

"I'm really tired too Reid." She said, trying to pretend as though she hadn't felt something between them.

"Oh yeah… um well, here you go." He put the linens on the couch. "Um… Sleep well… The bathroom is through there if you need it."

"Yeah… um, I'll just go now." She jumped up and nearly ran away from him.

_Get a hold of yourself. You didn't see what you thought you saw. It was a trick of light or something. _

She shut the door. She should stay in here until she was sure that he was asleep. Then she could go to sleep and in the morning, it would be a dream. Yeah... that was a good idea.

Reid was in his room with the door shut when Emily left the bathroom. She looked at the closed door. Should she say something or just go lie down. If only she could go home. However, she had promised Hotch to look after him.

"Reid…" She knocked on the door.

"Yeah…"

"Good night."

"Good night Emily."

He didn't come to the door, so she took the hint and went back to the couch. This was ridiculous. She should just fess up and ask him about what she had seen.

She made up the couch and lay down. Surprisingly it was very comfortable. Still, it took her a very long time to get to sleep.

---

"Hey Spence… How are ya feeling?"

Emily looked up to see Spencer entering the bullpen. It was his first day back after the Anthrax scare.

"Hi JJ…" He said, after taking a sip of the coffee cup he always carried with him. JJ followed him into the bullpen and over to his desk near Emily. They were chatting away about something. Perhaps they had a case.

"Hi guys." Emily greeted them both.

"I was just showing Reid what Henry bought me for Mothers Day. I haven't had a chance to wear it till now."

Emily looked up and choked on her coffee. It was a pendant with a purple butterfly outlined in gold.

"You okay Emily?" Reid asked, concern lining his face.

"Ah yeah… It's a great gift." She said to JJ, hoping her face wasn't going red.

"Thanks! Will said he found it at a new place in downtown DC . I scolded him for going that far into town. I couldn't stay mad though. It's so pretty."

"It's beautiful!"

"Yeah…"

"Well, there's no rest for the weary." JJ said heading back to her office. "I'm going to have something for you in an hour, so don't go anywhere."

Emily went back to her paperwork. It was just a coincidence. It wasn't like a sign or anything. God should be punishing her for ogling her teammate, not giving out signs.

She peered up at him. The file in front of him commanded all his attention. Of course, it does… He was used to that… that thing on his back. It had probably been there for some time. Why would he do it? It was totally out of character for him. It didn't make sense.

Morgan entered the room at the same time as Hotch. JJ came in a few minutes later and they headed up to the conference room. It was time to concentrate on work and not of what she'd seen a week ago.

----

Emily had just left the hotel bathroom after brushing her teeth when someone knocked on the door. She jumped and let out a little scream.

"Emily…"

_Oh God, what was he doing here?_

She stood there staring at the door. If she pretended not to hear him knocking, he might go away.

"Emily… I know you're in there."

Damn! He must have heard her little scream.

She opened the door. "Hey Reid… It's late. Can I talk to you tomorrow?"

"Can I come in?"

_This is a bad idea_

She ignored the voice that was telling her to tell Reid to go away.

"Alright… Come in." She swung the door wide and let him come in.

"I was worried about you." He blurted out.

"I'm fine… You're the one that had to jump right back in on your first day back to work."

"I'm fine too. I just wanted to know… well, you looked kind of upset today. I wondered if I did something wrong.

"No… It's me." She found herself spilling everything about the night she'd stayed with him and what she'd seen after his shower. The dam opened and she couldn't shut up even when he went bright red.

"I'm sorry Reid. I didn't mean for any of that to happen. Please don't be mad."

"Why shouldn't I be angry? You violated my privacy Emily!"

She went to the round wooden table in the corner of the room and sat down on one of the matching wooden chairs. He stayed by the bed looking down at the ugly burnt orange bedspread.

"You're right," She pulled one leg up to her chest and looked at her bare feet. The pink nail polish had chips on her big toe. "You should be angry. What I did was wrong. I don't know what to say to make it better."

"There's nothing you can say to make it better."

"I'm really sorry."

He went back to the door to the room. "Sorry doesn't make it better. I don't know if I can ever trust you again." "Reid…"

"Goodnight Emily…" He slammed out of the room, making a painting of an old red barn on the wall shake and rattle."

"That went well." She muttered. "Nice going Emily."

----

Emily had curled up with a book when a knock came at her front door. She sighed and put the book aside. It was time to face the music she'd been avoiding for so long.

"Hi…" She said to Reid who stood on the other side of the door.

"Hi!"

"Come in," She pulled open the door.

"Thanks…"

He followed her to the living room. She watched him sit and stare out the window at her great view. The sun was just going down over the Jefferson Memorial in golden and pink splendor. He didn't speak so she sat at the other end of her couch and waited.

The silence dragged out for so long her heart began to pound painfully in her chest. She couldn't bring herself to speak and break it so she waited.

"Emily…"

"Yeah…"

"I'm still mad at you."

"I know…"

"But I don't want us to walk on eggshells around each other."

"I agree."

"Can we talk?"

"Yes," The jitters in her stomach were slipping around like snakes in the grass. "I'm really very sorry Reid. I never wanted to wreck our friendship."

"Is that all?"

"Isn't that enough? I spied on you. You had every right to expect privacy in your own home and I -"

He jumped up and crossed the room to stand in front of her. "That's not what I meant. I was so angry because I'm completely head over heels in love with you and you don't care for me like that. I guess I hoped that if you were looking at me that you wanted me, but it was just curiosity, wasn't it."

His dark eyes were blazing with passion that burned out of him so that she could almost feel the heat of it on her face. His question ate through the caution she'd lived with since the first day she'd met him, like acid throuh ice.

"No… It wasn't just curiosity."

"Then what -" She stood and put her hands on his shoulders. The material of his sweater vest was rough under her fingers. His face was inches from hers.

"Shh…" She kissed him.

His body went rigid as if an electric charge had touched his feet. Slowly, his arms came up and wound around her waist.

Their mouths parted, but he held her tightly in his arms. Her heart was racing again, but this time the butterflies in her stomach had disappeared.

"That was… I don't know what to say." He whispered and the coffee on his breath made her smile.

"I could have looked away, but I didn't want to." She admitted as his hands made their way up under the red tank she wore and began to undo her bra.

"I know… How about I give you a better look?"

"Reid…"

"You've seen me naked." He whispered as his thumbs rubbed her nipples making them stand up hard. "I think you can call me Spencer."

"Spencer," She groaned.

He pushed her down on the couch. She pulled her tank over her head and shrugged out of her black lace bra. He stood over her looking down at her bare chest. The naked hunger in his eyes was a little scary.

"You look like a starving man at a banquet."

"That's a crude, but apt comparison."

"Are you going to join me or stand there ogling me?"

"Hm… I thought tit for tat."

"Yeah… They're my tits. Why don't you take off that sweater vest?"

He unbuttoned it and threw it aside with his shirt and tie."

"We're making progress," She shimmied out of her jeans and black lace panties.

"You're beautiful," He whispered. "I've waited so long for this."

"Me too…"

He dropped down next to the couch and kissed her. She tangled her hands into this wavy hair as his mouth moved down to her neck and then to her chest.

"Spencer…" She was breathless as his tongue licked down to one of her breasts.

"Shh…"

"Oh God?"

Her fingers tightened in his hair as his mouth worked on her nipple.

"Spencer!"

He kissed his way down her chest to her stomach making the muscles of her abdomen sing and tremble. His long fingers traveled down to the apex of her thighs and pushed her legs open.

"Baby…"

His mouth replaced his hands, licking and sucking on the small nub of sensitive flesh while she writhed under him.

"Jesus Spencer!"

He brought her to orgasm fast. She sighed and he smiled up at her. "Did you like that?"

"Yes…"

"I'm glad," He said.

"Let's go upstairs."

---

Emily straddled Reid's back and traced a finger over his lower back. He laughed, shaking the bed and causing the bedsprings to sing as they had just moments ago.

"I love that you're ticklish." She teased.

"Funny," He said into the mattress.

"How long did you have to lie still for this?"

"Six hours," He said.

"Really?"

"Yeah… The artist had a movie for me to watch."

"Let me guess, "Star Wars."

"No… Lord of the Rings one and two."

She slapped his ass and he laughed. "I'm serious."

"I know…"

"What do you think?"

"I think it's very cute." She slid off his back and lay down next to him.

"You do?"

"Yeah… I just don't understand why you picked it."

"I like the color purple."

"What about the butterfly?" She'd sat up with a sheet drawn up around her breasts.

Something in her voice had him sitting up with the sheets pooled around his waist. "This isn't about JJ." He said.

"What?"

"You know what I mean. I saw the way you reacted to her pendant. I didn't realize what that meant until you told me you'd see my tattoo. But," he reached up and pulled her into his arms. "I need you. I have loved you for so long. I've been waiting for you for as long as I can remember."

Tears ran down her cheeks as he spoke. "I love you too. I guess I thought I might be a substitute for JJ."

"Hey…" He pulled back and took her face in his hands. "I don't want her. I want you. I used to have a big crush on her, but it didn't work out. That's the real reason I let Morgan talk me into getting a tattoo. I wanted that butterfly to remind me that I need to wait for the right one. Now I have the right one."

She smiled through her tears and he kissed her. "So… If Morgan knows about the tattoo, why doesn't he tease you about it? It seems like he's wasting a great opportunity."

"Thanks!"

"You know what I mean!"

"Yeah… I got Garcia to talk to him. I don't know what she said, but he hasn't mentioned it in months."

"Hm… I wonder what she has on him."

"Who cares?" Reid said, kissing her again. "I have you and that's all I want."


End file.
